ďIíll be home for ChristmasĒ is going to be a lot more costly this year for Aloha State travelers. New analysis compiled by CheapCarRental.net reveals that over the Christmas period, renting a car in the Big Islandís capital of Honolulu will be nearly triple the usual going rate.

A budget economy car in the Hawaiian capital typically goes for a daily rental rate of $50. This Christmas season, however, breaking even the $150 mark will prove challenging. The cheapest rate CheapCarRental.net uncovered in Honolulu was $147 per day. Equating to a 194% increase over regular rates, that figures catapults Honolulu to the top of the heap in late December car rental rates. And the margin is a wide one. Miami and New York, the second and third place contenders, trailed behind at $111 and $99 per day respectively.

Holiday travelers who are on a strict budget may be out of luck if their destination is Honolulu, but other major U.S. cities arenít being quite so Scrooge-ish about their car rental costs. In a select few major destinations, the price for renting a car this Christmas is even coming in below average.

New Orleans and Atlanta are showing moderate car rental price hikes for the end of December at 25% and 18% hikes respectively. But visitors to the nationís capitol of Washington, D.C. and to Dallas, Texas will actually save some money at the car rental counter. There, costs have actually declined 6% and 16% respectively.

The following table shows the ten cities with the most expensive car rental rates for the 2011 Christmas period. The percentage increase, based on a comparison with regular rates, is shown next to each city making the cut. The prices illustrated reflect average rates for the cheapest available car during the period spanning December 23 through December 28, 2011.

Rank

City

Regular

Christmas

Change

1

Honolulu

$50

$147

+194%

2

Miami

$30

$111

+268%

3

New York

$58

$99

+70%

4

Boston

$30

$70

+135%

5

New Orleans

$55

$69

+25%

6

Jacksonville

$31

$68

+118%

7

Philadelphia

$30

$57

+90%

8

Orlando

$16

$51

+218%

9

San Diego

$27

$50

+85%

10

Las Vegas

$30

$49

+63%

11

Milwaukee

$27

$46

+70%

12

Chicago

$24

$47

+95%

13

Los Angeles

$23

$44

+91%

14

San Francisco

$27

$43

+59%

15

Memphis

$36

$39

+8%

16

San Jose

$26

$38

+46%

17

Atlanta

$32

$38

+18%

18

Baltimore

$42

$34

-19%

19

Phoenix

$24

$33

+37%

20

Detroit

$29

$33

+13%

21

Seattle

$23

$32

+39%

22

Nashville

$37

$32

-13%

23

Charlotte

$37

$32

-13%

24

Dallas

$36

$30

-16%

25

Denver

$19

$29

+52%

26

Columbus

$29

$29

+0%

27

Washington

$29

$27

-6%

28

Houston

$36

$26

-27%

29

Indianapolis

$38

$25

-34%

30

San Antonio

$36

$25

-30%

About the methodology:
The car rental rates were established early december via CarTrawler, a car rental comparions solution. For 30 destinations in the USA, the average daily rate for the cheapest available car from Dec 23 to Dec 28 was calculated. Regular Rates reflect the average price for January. For each city, the respective airport was chosen as the Pick up and Drop off location.